Romney Wins Christie Nod as Republicans Seek Edge in Debate

Mitt Romney, former governor of Massachusetts before the presidential debate at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire on Oct. 11, 2011. Photographer: Scott Eells/Bloomberg

Oct. 11 (Bloomberg) -- Mitt Romney, working to solidify his
status as frontrunner in the Republican presidential race, was
endorsed by New Jersey Governor Chris Christie today in New
Hampshire, hours before the White House contenders are to debate
over the economy in the home of the nation’s first primary.

Christie’s endorsement follows his announcement last week
that he wouldn’t mount his own presidential bid, dashing the
hopes of some Republican leaders and donors who had sought an
alternative to Romney and the party’s other candidates.

Christie, appearing at a news conference in Lebanon, New
Hampshire, praised the former Massachusetts governor as “an
executive who has used executive power,” a reference to
Romney’s business experience.

The endorsement was “an easy decision for me,” Christie
said.

Romney, embarking on his second presidential run, called
Christie “an American hero” and “a real hero in Republican
circles.”

Debate’s Focus

Romney and his Republican rivals are competing to persuade
voters they are best-suited to challenge President Barack Obama
on the economy. The issue is the sole focus of tonight’s debate
at Dartmouth College in Hanover, co-sponsored by Bloomberg News
and The Washington Post, which will be broadcast on Bloomberg
Television, Bloomberg Radio, WBIN-TV in New Hampshire and on
Bloomberg.com and WashingtonPost.com. It starts at 8 p.m. local
time.

“This is not someone who just decided to run for president
off the back of an envelope,” Christie said in backing Romney.
“This is somebody who has thought and listened and planned for
a good long period of time about what you would do if he was
given the honor of being president of the United States.”

He also said Romney, the onetime chief executive of the
investment firm Bain Capital LLC, has “laid out the most
detailed economic plan of anybody in the race.”

Romney on Sept. 6 released a 59-point plan that included
proposals to cut U.S. corporate taxes, reduce federal
regulations and pursue sanctions against China for currency
manipulation.

At his news conference with Christie today, Romney said,
“I don’t want people to cheat, and China’s been cheating.”

‘Utmost Respect’

Rick Perry’s presidential campaign released a statement
saying the Texas governor “has the utmost respect for Governor
Christie and looks forward to his help unseating President Obama
next year. Until then, Governor Perry will continue traveling
the country talking about job creation and getting America
working again.”

Christie’s endorsement came as an ascendant Herman Cain is
working to burnish his fiscal credentials and replace Perry as
the prime threat to Romney. The debate is expected to test the
staying power of Cain, the former chief executive of Godfather’s
Pizza who is the latest social conservative to shoot to
prominence following short-lived surges by Perry and Minnesota
Representative Michele Bachmann, both of whom have seen their
popularity plummet.

A pre-debate poll of Republicans and Republican-leaning
independents by the debate co-sponsors found that Cain has
pulled almost even with Romney in appeal as an economic leader.

Twenty-two percent of the party’s supporters picked Romney,
a former venture capitalist, 20 percent Cain and 12 percent
Perry as the candidates who could do the most to improve the
economy.

Perry Question

“The mega-question is, will Rick Perry screw up again?”
said John J. Pitney, a political scientist at Claremont McKenna
College in Claremont, California. “Everyone knows that Romney
handles himself well in these debates. He’s smooth if you like
him, slick if you don’t. People want to know whether Perry can
reassure some of the people who were disappointed by his
stumbles last time.”

Many eyes will be on Cain as well, said Pitney, a former
Republican Party aide, “to see if he can stand up to the tough
questions and the tight scrutiny” he is likely to draw as a
newcomer to the top tier of candidates.

Asked about Cain’s new prominence during an appearance
today on ABC’s “Good Morning America,” White House senior
adviser David Plouffe declined to comment directly.

“We’re still in the first or second inning here,” he
said. “This is going to have a lot of twists and turns between
now and early January.”

‘Great Recession’

He said he expects that during tonight’s debate, the
Republicans will be “subscribing to the same economic policy
that led to the Great Recession, and that they want to let Wall
Street write their own rules” benefiting the wealthy and big
corporations.

Some of the candidates fanned out across the autumn-hued
highways of New Hampshire yesterday to court the state’s
independent-minded residents. Each seeks to persuade voters who
hold early sway in the party’s nominating contest that he or she
is best-positioned to address the issue dominating the campaign:
jobs and reinvigorating the economy.

Romney, at a Veterans of Foreign Wars post in Milford, said
yesterday Obama’s stewardship has created a “‘Where’s Waldo’
economy,” referring to the children’s books in which the
challenge is to hunt for a small, hard-to-find man on a crowded
page. In Romney’s analogy, the jobs are Waldo.

Romney also accused Obama of fostering “class warfare”
that he said demonized groups of people unfairly. “I’ve been
really disappointed -- and, in some respects, a little
frightened -- by the president’s rhetoric -- this class warfare,
trying to find someone to blame,” he said.

No Scapegoats

Earlier, commenting on the Occupy Wall Street protests that
began in Manhattan’s financial district and have spread to
cities across the country, Romney said, “Dividing our nation at
a time of crisis is the wrong way to go. All the streets are
connected. Wall Street’s connected to Main Street, and so
finding a scapegoat, finding someone to blame, in my opinion,
isn’t the right way to go.”

Students and faculty at Dartmouth plan a rally
demonstrating support for the Occupy Wall Street protesters this
afternoon.

Paul’s Target

For U.S. Representative Ron Paul of Texas, whose
libertarian positions have struck a chord with some Republicans
and independent voters, the debate will offer an opportunity to
showcase his criticism of the Federal Reserve and the fiscal and
monetary policies that he argues are responsible for the
nation’s economic troubles.

“You can’t spend your way out of these problems,” he told
the Fox Business Network in an interview yesterday. “You can’t
inflate your way out of it. The average person on the street
figured this out.”

Asked yesterday by an undecided voter at a town hall
meeting in Hopkinton whether he or Cain has better private-sector experience, Romney said Cain “is a terrific guy, and
give him a good look. Both Herman and I spent our careers in the
private sector, so I think that’s one of the reasons both of us
are doing pretty well.”

Romney also pointed out his experience as an elected
official, a credential Cain lacks. “You don’t want to
necessarily learn that for the first time as president of the
United States,” he said.

Attack Video

Perry, absent from public view as tries to bounce back from
weak debate performances and criticism of his position on
illegal immigration, released a campaign video criticizing
Romney for his support of a Massachusetts health-care law that
bears similarities to the national measure Obama enacted.

The video portrays Romney as a mirror image of Obama,
juxtaposing pictures of the president signing the law its
opponents derisively call Obamacare with images of Romney
signing the Massachusetts measure. Both laws require that all
residents obtain health insurance.

It includes TV clips of Romney defending his legislation
and concludes with a phrase he uttered during the last debate:
“There are a lot of reasons not to elect me.” That is followed
by a quote from Obama: “He’s right.”

Christie today scoffed at the effort to link the two laws,
saying, “Any attempt to try to compare what happened in
Massachusetts and what the president has done to the United
States of America with his plan is completely intellectually
dishonest.”

Perry’s Stumbles

Perry, who shot to the front of the Republican pack
following his Aug. 13 entrance into the race, has fallen from
favor, according to public polls, largely because of his
decision as governor to let children of illegal immigrants
attend college at discounted tuition rates. He announced last
week that he raised more than $17 million in scarcely more than
a month, an indication that he could have staying power in the
Republican contest.

Cain stayed largely out of the public eye preparing for his
first debate performance since winning a nonbinding straw poll
in Florida on Sept. 24, bringing him greater name recognition, a
boost in public polls and new attention for his “9-9-9” tax
plan. It would replace the current tax system with 9 percent
corporate and individual taxes and a 9 percent sales tax.

Recent polls reveal a bump for Cain, even as they
underscore Romney’s status as party favorite. The Bloomberg-Post
national poll of 1,000 people conducted Oct. 6-9 showed Romney
maintaining his overall advantage as the candidate Republican
supporters most want to see as the nominee, at 24 percent, with
Cain second at 16 percent.

New Hampshire Poll

Romney also leads among likely voters in New Hampshire,
according to a poll jointly sponsored by the Institute of
Politics at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and
the New Hampshire Institute of Politics at Saint Anselm College
in Manchester, New Hampshire. That poll found that Romney is
backed by 38 percent of likely New Hampshire primary voters,
followed by Cain with 20 percent and Paul with 13 percent. The
other candidates got support of 5 percent or less.

“There’s nobody who’s been able to solidify a No. 2
slot,” said Andrew Smith, a University of New Hampshire polling
expert and political scientist whose latest survey found similar
results. “Over the last couple of years, and certainly recent
months, we’ve seen multiple candidates bump up to No. 2, but
nobody’s been able to stay there for more than one or two polls.
The race is still largely Romney’s to lose.”

Bachmann, who threatened Romney with an early burst of
momentum that was squelched by Perry, said she is looking for a
chance to distinguish herself at the debate.

‘Plenty of Questions’

“Hopefully, we’ll get plenty of questions and be able to
stand out,” she told reporters after a town hall meeting in
Henniker. While polls have shown a drop in her popularity,
Bachmann said she has the money to stay in the race. “We do
have the resources to be viable,” she said.

Jon Huntsman Jr., who is staking his campaign on a strong
finish in New Hampshire and has fared poorly in recent polls in
the state, said he would use the debate to highlight the ways in
which his experience as a former businessman, governor of Utah
and diplomat have shaped his economic perspective.

“We’re pointing people to the facts of my economic
background,” Huntsman told reporters after visiting a senior
center in Hanover today. “What I did in the private sector,
what I did as governor of a state, what I’ve learned by living
overseas four times and serving three times as an ambassador to
my country -- and that is understanding better than anybody on
that stage America’s role in the world in the 21st Century.”

Huntsman served until earlier this year as Obama’s
ambassador to China.

‘Cult’ Comment

In an interview today on the NPR radio program “On
Point,” Huntsman was asked about the pastor who introduced
Perry on Oct. 7 at a Values Voter Summit in Washington and later
told reporters that Romney’s Mormon faith is a “cult.”

The Baptist minister, the Rev. Robert Jeffress of Dallas,
is “a moron,” said Huntsman, also a Mormon.

Romney at his news conference today called upon Perry “to
repudiate the sentiment and the remarks made by that pastor.”

Perry’s campaign previously has issued a statement saying
the governor “does not believe Mormonism is a cult.”

To contact the reporter on this story:
Julie Hirschfeld Davis in Hanover, New Hampshire, at